Sunday, 10 February 2013

Middle Eastern blood orange cake

I fancied baking something completely different and
outside of my comfort zone this week.
When I saw blood oranges for sale I realised I had never eaten one, let
alone baked with one. I bought the
oranges and then set about finding a recipe.

This recipe is from Claudia Roden’s 'A Book of Middle Eastern Food'. I think of Claudia Roden as the Delia Smith of
Middle Eastern cookery i.e. she’s totally reliable! I’ve made several dinners from her recipes
but never a cake so what a cracking recipe to start with!

The cake lacks two of the most common cake
ingredients – butter and flour. It is
packed with eggs and almonds though, so that’s the first indication it will be
fragrant and moist.

Boiling the oranges was certainly one of the odder
things I’ve done (in the kitchen). The smell
while they were cooking was heavenly – the room had a gorgeous light citrus-y
aroma that lingered long after the cooking was over. Here is what a boiled orange looks like:

My blood oranges weren’t particularly dark in
colour. I was hoping for blood red and
actually got a faint pink tinge that looked like my oranges were a little
embarrassed about something. Still, the
puree had a wonderful rich colour:

The batter was much looser than a normal cake
batter...

... more like a pulpy smoothie drink. I was worried whether it would set during
baking; it does but the finished cake is juicier than a sponge and the wet texture
is a surprise on the first bite! (NB. The texture does firm up on subsequent days ending up almost like that tight baked cheesecake texture. I recommend baking it at least one day before you wish to serve it.) All the
fruity juices give the cake a wonderfully sticky exterior, particularly the
top:

I have been baking pretty much every weekend for
over seven years now and I find it thrilling that I can still find recipes
completely unlike anything I’ve ever made before. It really is impossible to ever say you’ve ‘mastered’
baking or done it all. How lucky I am to
have such a wonderful hobby!

Ingredients

2 oranges or 3 blood oranges

6 eggs

250g ground almonds

250g caster sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

Start with the oranges: Place them (whole and
unpeeled) in a saucepan and cover them in water – they will float but you want
enough water so that if you hold them down they are covered.

Boil for 1 ½ hours or until they are squidgy soft
but holding their shape. You might need
to periodically top up the water.

I decided my oranges were ready when I could cut
through the peel with the edge of a teaspoon.

Take the oranges out of the saucepan (you don’t
need the water) and leave to cool.

Cut the oranges open and remove the pips then place
the oranges –peel, pith et al – into a food processor and blitz until you have
a thick puree.

You can prep the oranges a day in advance and keep
in the fridge overnight.

Now make the cake: preheat the oven to 190ºc/ fan
oven 170ºc/375ºf/gas mark 5.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm (reluctantly) gluten free but I can actually try this recipe. I've had such poor results with GF recipes that I'd given up and resigned myself to just enjoying your baking vicariously.

Ahhh poor oranges, blushing away like that! I bought a bottle of blood orange juice yesterday- it was poking out the bag a little on the way home but the only part of the label that was visable to read was 'ORGANIC BLOOD'... the orange being hidden in the bag! It looked somewhat dodgy...

I baked orange cake without butter early December. The oranges were boiled for that cake too. I found that recipe in Cake Craft and Decorating magazine. I love blood oranges, maybe I need to try this one too.

I love damp almond cakes like this, they make a refreshing and delicious change! I've been using blood oranges recently and its bizarre how some have such a deep pink colour whilst others are just like normal oranges.

That cake looks just how I like them to be, moist and a bit squidgy. Not having any fat, other than what's in the almonds is really unusual. I want to try it now to see for myself what it is like. I've wanted some blood oranges to play around with, but annoyingly haven't found any - I did want blood red ones though, which I remember eating as a child.

Looks delicious and so moist and sticky. this is my favourite recipe for orange cake, but never throught it to try it with bloof oranges before. Love the faint blushing pink colour.If you replace 50g of the almonds with cocoa powder you get a delicious choc orange cake!

I've seen recipes that involve boiling oranges before, but have never been brave enough to try them. Well done for doing it. Just shows you shouldn't be afraid to try anything as you never know what you'll discover. The finished cake looks lovely and most. :)

Hello caked crusader. finally i can leave a comment. you are absolute fav baking buddy. absolutely. and u are my buddy even if we've never met :) you've never failed me with your wonderful recipes, and they always turn out exactly as you say they will. having said this, this is the same recipe nigella has as a clementine cake in one of her earlier books, and in her book Feasts, she's done a chocolate orange one, which i tried out last week. It was wonderfully comforting (if a tad bitter for my 9 year old daughter.) i loved the texture the almonsd give the cake don't you. and i knew it was the same recipe, as soon as i saw your pic, cos my cake had that lovely textured top too.

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